This is a short note to make the point and not get you bored. (500 words series)
Point: Stonehenge is an interesting phenomenon in modern history. People keep asking questions and searching for the answers while some of the basic data about the monument is completely ignored. Fortunately we have much more info about the Stonehenge and even not so ancient data is very informative. It is more than history, it is common sense at stake.
Many historical events happened in the deep past and we can only speculate what happened and why. Stonehenge is a rare object which is located in the modern civilized country and a lot of things are known about it’s recent past.
For example it is known that stones were falling every few years in the early 1900’s and were endangering the life of tourists. It was annoying and inconvenient.
Therefore, around 1960 stones were finally rearranged and sealed properly and attached to the ground and each other with metal pins. Everywhere where needed the traces of renovation were covered with concrete.
There is a BBC documentary video about the process. (which is not easy to find, but doable)
So, after a short research anybody can confirm that the location of the stones is not original and the stones themselves are modified heavily.
Still, here and there, we see a bunch of published papers/blogs about the Stonehenge puzzle and how we need to find out how the stones could hold for so long….
Interestingly enough, each such investigation has some comment about how recently stones have not been as stable as the last 5000 years and we need to preserve them more.
Or sometimes more specific: “The only thing that could happen with Stonehenge is potentially rabbits might burrow under the stones and undermine them from below, making them fall over onto their sides”. And it ‘s apparently not a joke….
The question here is about the researchers, not about readers. Can the professor not know about the major “ renovation” of the site? Why would he write about the process in such a misleading way?
Wouldn’t it be more productive to discuss the problem as it is. Maybe boring at times and maybe not as ancient, but still interesting?
For example: People need some mystery and something which is magnificent and shatters the imagination. Let’s create something which really shatters instead of cheating about the age of stones and making up the facts about ancient mystery?
References
Thanks to the following for inspiration